


Friction

by Ringshadow



Series: Trickster Souls [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012), The Sentinel
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Justin has a mancrush, M/M, Metaphysics repair, Sleepy Cuddles, pre-avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 14:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ringshadow/pseuds/Ringshadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All the compatible metaphysics in the world can't gloss over the fact that Tony and Justin have not always got along, and that settling in is taking effort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friction

Justin stood in Tony’s living room, staring from his pile of luggage to Agent Coulson then back again before sighing and rubbing his face with his hands. “Okay. Do I want to know how you got this?”

 

“I went to the hotel, showed my badge, explained the situation, and took possession of your property. Then searched it. You won’t be finding any pills, sorry.” Coulson was very clearly not sorry.

 

“Right.” He picked up his laptop bag, moving it and setting it on the table. “Evidence I assume.”

 

“Yes. And none of us need you relapsing at this point.”

 

“Thanks for that vote of confidence.” He grumbled.

 

“Yeah, he’s been a grouchy bitch the last day or so.” Tony said from his kitchen.

 

“Well someone isn’t letting me leave.” Justin snapped. “And I’m starting to question the legality of this situation. Was I kidnapped for my own good?”

 

Tony recoiled slightly, mouth drawing tight and eyes darting away, and Clint and Phil shared a look before splitting up, Phil joining Tony in the kitchen and Clint walking over to Justin.

 

“Hey, you need to ease up. He doesn’t deserve that.” Clint growled at Justin.

 

Justin growled back. “Oh, and I deserve this?”

 

“Yes, doing rehab in the lap of fuckin’ luxury, how will you get by?”

 

“Okay, I am so fucking done with all three of you!” He shouted, and was rewarded with Clint stepping back. “I hurt all over! Yes, I finally stopped throwing up at the drop of a hat, go me, but I ache! My head is constantly splitting, and the last time I went outside I got lost in the sound of the ocean! This house is full of nice bright shiny lights that turn me into a retarded magpie!  My life is completely out of my god damn control, and I am miserable, and no one gives a shit about my opinion!” He wove his arms around, gesticulating wildly, and for the life of him all Tony saw was an angry extra from Cowboy Bebop. “Yeah, I’ve spent the last many years in a drug induced fog but at least I was mostly happy and had good days!”

 

There was a long silence, and Tony blew out a sigh. He’d wandered and opened up Justin’s laptop bag, only to nearly drop the thing aside. “Oh god, no, okay you’re not using this in my house.”

 

Justin stared at him, then stared at Clint and gestured at Tony with both hands silently.

 

“I see your point.” Phil said after a beat, shooting Tony a look. “Not everyone lives in a house that is run by an AI and can bring up three-dimensional projections nearly anywhere, Stark.”

 

“Okay, point taken.” He sighed and put the laptop down, then looked at Justin. “I’m just saying, man, I’m getting you an upgrade. We’ll port your data over, no muss, but this? Not up to your standards anymore.”

 

“It’s not even a year old and it’s entirely a custom build. It does my CAD work just fine.” Justin was petulant.

 

“I’ll let you lovebirds fight about tech once we leave.” Phil deadpanned. “In the meantime, how about we walk down your list of complaints until you feel a bit more in control?”

 

Justin sighed and moved to sit heavily on the couch, staring at them all. In spite of having a reasonable amount of clothing Tony had had someone bring in, he’d had no shame in stealing from Tony’s wardrobe and using his razor so he felt more human than he had in days, clean shaven and in a high-quality buttondown over jeans. None of which corrected the fact that the inside of his head felt like it was between radio stations. “You’re used to being in charge, aren’t you.”

 

“Generally.” Phil moved to join them in the living area. “Yes, you hurt and you have headaches. You’re coming out of withdrawal, and doing so rather well from what I can tell. It will pass, and if it helps, you’re not exactly alone. Your zoning out easily is part of this. Your body likely has no built-in defenses against it. You’re going to have to build those up. Getting your shields back up will help that.”

 

“Look, man, if you really want to leave, we can go out but I hesitate to take you home.” Tony said, watching him. “I’m afraid it’s a trigger space for you.”

 

“What, you aren’t afraid I’m hiding a rainbow of meds there?” Justin gave him a disbelieving look.

 

“Yeah, that too.” He admitted. “This hasn’t been fun for me either, you know? All I can really do is hope it works out in the end.”

 

“Right there with you.”

 

“Speaking of ends, have either of you talked about that?” Clint wanted to know. “Because the way you two can focus on each other, once Justin’s headspace isn’t wreckage it probably isn’t going to take much for you two to bond.”

 

“Can I just admit that’s not something I’m not real comfortable with either?” Justin scratched his chin. “Never saw myself considering a guide, let alone it being…”

 

“Another guy?” Clint finished and saw Justin nod.

 

“Hey, it’s not like my record of enthusiastically banging Maxim models got me ready for this.” Tony muttered, saw both Clint and Phil staring at him and put up his hands. “Fine, I have a record of enthusiastic consent with anyone pretty and that is still not the point!”

 

“Somehow that just made me even more uncomfortable.” Justin said flatly.

 

“Have you two been watching soap operas or reading bad porn?” Phil wanted to know. “It doesn’t have to be sexual. Yes, I know the media hype and yes, I can give you gory details all day long but it’s perfectly possible to have a platonic bond.”

 

“That being said, you’ve spent the last eight days inside each other’s skulls and you’re complaining about the potential of sex.” Clint looked between them. “I’m allowed to find that weird, right?”

 

“Barton.” Phil’s stare was disapproving.

 

“What? It is. Slipping under someone’s shields is kinda fuckin’ intimate, I’m just saying.”

 

“That’s for them to figure out.” Phil just barely straightened himself out and stepped over, setting a hand on one of Clint’s arms. “We’ll get out of your hair.”

 

“Thanks for all your help.” Justin said after a beat. “I mean, you’re the one who gave my job a cover story right.”

 

“Yours, and Stark’s. And the media.” Phil confirmed. “None of which was hard. Call it a favor for a valued contractor of SHIELD.” He left it at that, breezing out the door with Clint in tow.

 

“You know, sometimes I like them.” Justin said, staring after them. “Other times…”

 

“Oh trust me. I understand.” Tony moved to sit down next to him, staring at him for a long silent moment, brows drawing together. “Are we cool?”

 

He moved without thinking, turning and curling up to tuck into his side, mind opening wide. “We’re cool. Sorry about earlier, I just…”

 

“Yeah. You’re scared.” He got an arm around Justin and leaned his forehead on the top of Justin’s head, feeling the other twitch but not pull away as he let his mind wander into Justin’s. It’s already ridiculously easy, a well-worn path, and it’s satisfying to see less and less ‘ruins’ even if it just leaves more and more vulnerable space instead. “So am I. We’ll figure it out.”

 

“If you touch my laptop I will wring your neck.”

 

“Dude, I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot bargepole.” He snorted, then laughed when Justin flipped him off. “Yeah. We’re cool.”

* * *

 

 

Justin was fangirling. There was no other word for it.

 

Tony had ended up in a phone conversation with Professor Xavier, and after some hashing out they had video hooked up in the living room, and now Justin was absolutely, utterly ecstatic.

 

“Fucking hell, he is not a boy band and you are not a teenage girl.” Tony said, laughing. For his part, Xavier had managed not to laugh out loud as Justin had failed for two minutes to spit a sentence out coherently.

 

“Okay, you? Go to your shop and weld something, I’ll be okay.” Justin decided, pointing.

 

“Right. JARVIS, let me know if that changes. Thank you, professor.” Tony said, turning his back and heading downstairs, laughing the whole way.

 

“Sorry.” Justin said apologetically to the screen. He was sitting on the couch, back in one of his suits and relatively put together. The coyote was sitting on the back of the couch, looming over him. “I’ve just been following your TED talks and stuff for literal years. I never thought I’d get a chance to meet you, Professor.”

 

“This is intensely flattering, but isn’t the reason we’re here.” Xavier replied. “And given the nature of this talk, you can call me Charles, if you like.”

 

“Yeah okay.” He focused with effort. “Agent Coulson said you could help me get my mind together.”

 

“I can help but it really is one of those things that will only work if you want it to.”

 

“Like rehab?” He couldn’t stop himself from saying it.

 

“Justin, you must realize, this is rehabilitation. “ Xavier was sitting at his desk, arms laced on it, watching the other man through the feed. “I really don’t care what Agent Coulson told you, or Tony Stark. If you don’t come into this wanting the help, then I can’t help you.”

 

Justin sighed and nodded, eyes darting away from the screen then coming back. “Yeah. I get that. Trust me, I never wanted any of this. I’ve spent most of my life just wanting to be normal.”

 

“I’ve helped a lot of sentinels and guides that went through reprogramming. You tell me. Would you rather try to get by on silencing drugs, or do you want to take Stark as your guide? Because you do have a choice.”

 

“I think the drugs were killing me.” The words fell out of his mouth. “And it’s nice to not be alone. I don’t know how Tony and I are going to work this out, legally. It’s going to be a mess. But it’s been so nice to not… fear getting zoned out on something because I know he’ll walk me back out of whatever I’m fixating on.”

 

Xavier nodded once. “Then I might be able to help you. I’ve been led to understand you basically have no shields.”

 

“Yeah. They crashed at the hospital.”

 

“I’m going to talk you through cleaning up what remains, and starting to set new foundations. It’s going to seem a bit silly sometimes, but I need you to respond and give me verbal feedback because if you go utterly silent I will have to assume you’re zoning out.”

 

“Seems fair.”

 

“Then take a breath, look inward, and we’ll begin.”

* * *

 

 

Returning to his workshop always felt like really going home, and it took less than five minutes for Tony to bury himself into projects he’d left languishing when he’d brought Justin home, going through information and sorting, prioritizing.

 

“Sir, I’m afraid I have managed to track more STARK weapons in the wild.” JARVIS said, bringing it up on the screen, showing satellite feed.

 

“Daddy’s work is never done.” Tony tched, bringing the feed around center and watching, sipping coffee. “What can you tell me about it?”

 

“It appears to be part of a shipment that Stane sold, sir, but it is difficult to say for certain. They could have been stolen.”

 

He shook his head, wondering if he would ever clean up Stane’s mess fully. He was starting to doubt it. He was staring meditatively at the feed when he saw one of the blasts tear into a building, and stood. “Suit me up.”

 

“Might I ask what I should tell Mr. Hammer, sir?”

 

“That Iron Man had work to do and I’ll be back.” He muttered, moving and holding his arms up. It’s almost a relief when the armor buckles in around him, and it’d only been a week and a half. The HUD came up, and his flightpath traced out with it as he took a few running steps and kicked in the thrusters, zipping out of the driveway and into the brilliant blue sky, whooping when he broke subsonic.

* * *

 

 

The roar of the suit tore Justin out of what he was doing, startling and opening his eyes just in time to see the contrail of fire as the suit shot away. He jolted to his feet and stepped over to the window, pressing his hands to the glass and watching the Iron Man suit disappear over the horizon, swallowing back a lump in his throat. “JARVIS?”

 

“Mr. Stark said to tell you that Iron Man had to deploy, but he will return when able.”

 

“Well that makes me more uncomfortable than I’d really like to admit.” He huffed, walking back to the couch and looking at Xavier. “Sorry about that.”

 

“Uncomfortable how?”

 

“I… I’m the sentinel, right? How the hell can I defend him if he’s fighting on the other side of the world?” He wove his hands formlessly, trying to put words to what he’s saying. “I mean I’m a crack shot with most guns but I’m not a hero, or even a soldier. I’d be a burden on the battlefield, not an asset. Intelligently, I know that, but instinctually, this is very nerve wracking.”

 

“What you are feeling is normal. Don’t fixate on it, you’ll only make it worse.”

 

Normal, right. Justin flopped to the couch. “Where were we?”

* * *

 

 

“It doesn’t have to be a fortress. That’s a common mistake. It just has to be somewhere you feel safe and secure. The strength will come from that, and from a well-laid foundation. It doesn’t even have to be based on a real building.

 

“You’ve cleared the old landscape, yes? Now you can change it. Alter the terrain. This isn’t physical so you need to envision this with confidence. Everything else might feel unstable, but this absolutely cannot. Go deep, design well, take your time.”

* * *

 

 

It was late by the time Tony landed and walked through his shop, yawning even as he held his arms out for the armor to be removed. It’s habit more than anything else that gets him through a shower and back into clothes, drinking most of a nutrient shake as he wandered half-asleep through his house.

 

Somehow he ended up standing in the doorway of the guestroom instead of his own bedroom, probably because his crow had leapt off his shoulder and flown in there instead. In the dark the spirit animals were ghostlike, haloed with faint blue-white light and that made it easy to see the coyote sprawled at the foot of the bed, Justin seemingly asleep on his side. He stood there a moment before walking in, setting the cup on the nightstand and rolling onto the bed. It’s almost automatic to slip under the covers and pick up one of Justin’s arms, wrapping it over himself and tucking into the curve of Justin’s body under his chin.

 

There was a moment of silence, just the both of them breathing and he wondered if he’d actually managed to get into bed without waking Justin up. Then Justin’s voice muttered foggily, “Just so you know, I’m rather upset with you.”

 

“That happens.” Tony agreed, only half awake. “Should I leave?”

 

“No.”

 

“How did it go with Xavier?”

 

“See for yourself.”

 

Tony blinked in the dark, then shrugged, wandering into Justin’s mind and slapping into a wall of shields. “Hey! You got them back up.” Even as he said that they opened and tugged him in, and he willingly went, curious what had changed and ending up floored. The ruins of the fortress had disappeared in favor of heavily forested mountain peaks, and he was standing on the front porch of an A-frame cabin, overlooking a lake. “Oh, wow.”

 

“It’s still under renovation.” Justin muttered. “But the headaches have gone away.”

 

Tony’s acknowledgement was mostly nonverbal, too busy enjoying the rightness of what he was feeling, the solid reinforcement of Justin’s shields layering over his and sheltering his mind from the outside world. Justin, for his part, just sighed heavily and fell back asleep, and Tony saw no reason not to follow.

**Author's Note:**

> It should be noted that this doesn't magically mean that Justin is all better.. just that he's working more as intended. The trauma of what was done to him is still there.
> 
> This said, if you want to see a particular Sentinel trope in this little series, feel free to comment.
> 
> Dammit I started this out just to be some nice shippy AU sexytimes and all these feels got in the way.


End file.
